Associations between perceived discrimination and contraceptive method use: why we need better measures of discrimination in reproductive healthcare

Discrimination has historically contributed to coercive contraceptive in the United States. We investigated associations between perceived discrimination, or the perception of unequal treatment in everyday life, and contraceptive method use among U.S. women. We analyzed population-based data from a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Women & health 2021-05, Vol.61 (5), p.461-469
Main Authors: Loder, Charisse, Hall, K., Kusunoki, Yasamin, Harris, Lisa Hope, Dalton, Vanessa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Birth control
Coercivity
Contraception
Contraception Behavior
Contraceptive Agents
Contraceptives
Delivery of Health Care
Discrimination
Educational attainment
Everyday life
Female
Health services
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Perceived Discrimination
Pregnancy
Regression analysis
Reproductive health
socioeconomic status
United States
Women
Young Adult
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Summary:Discrimination has historically contributed to coercive contraceptive in the United States. We investigated associations between perceived discrimination, or the perception of unequal treatment in everyday life, and contraceptive method use among U.S. women. We analyzed population-based data from a 2013 study of U.S. women who were premenopausal, age 18-50, sexually active with a male partner in the last year and were not attempting pregnancy. Perceived discrimination was measured using the Everyday Discrimination Scale. Contraceptive method use was categorized into five method categories: permanent, highly effective reversible, moderately effective, barrier and no method. We analyzed relationships between perceived discrimination and contraceptive method use with several regression models, controlling for covariates. Among 539 women in our analytic sample, those with high perceived discrimination had lower incomes, less educational attainment and were less likely to be insured. Perceived discrimination was associated with a reduced odds of using any contraceptive method (aOR 0.43, CI 0.21-0.87, p
ISSN:0363-0242
1541-0331
DOI:10.1080/03630242.2021.1919816